Colorful Lisu New Year

For four days and nights the Lisu people celebrate the new year with dancing, singing and drinking. Their celebration coincides with the Chinese New Year as the Lisu still adhere to the Chinese lunar calendar.

The preparations for the festivities take place well in advance. Most households will ensure they have a stock of liquor at home, beginning to distil it as soon as they have harvested their corn and rice after the rainy season. Over many weeks, even months before the New Year, the women will be busy making new, eye-catching costumes that will be worn during the New Year festivities.

The traditional female dress is a composition of two or three bright, contrasting colors, such as blue, magenta and orange, with different pieces of floral or other patterned cloth included. It is worn over pants.

credit Jim Goodman http://blackeagleflights.blogspot.com/

Lisu women are experts at intricate stitch-work. They have many patterns that are considered staples in any good Lisu woman's repertoire of needle-work. Most of  them focus on sewing small tabs of fabric of contrasting colors criss-crossing over one another. There's kua-pia-kua (tail of the bow), pia-goo-ma-kua (tiger's chest), foo-yee-chee (snake's belly)na-hoo-mia-cheuy (hat's eyes) ee-geu-ja-ya (criss-crossing tabs of colored fabric) and ah-na (dog's fang). In the case of ah-na, a woman's workmanship is rated by how small she is able to make the dog's fangs. Usually these patterns appear in the decoration of sleeves, belts and children's hats.

The Lisu are particularly fond of silver. 

During festivals girls wear blouses covered with silver studs and pendants, some girls wear little silver fish in their headdresses.

It is the time when the Lisu ‘spring clean’ their homes. More important, however is the generous way in which they show respect to their ancestor spirits. 

Of all the spirits, Apomo, or Old Grandfather, is revered most of all.  A guardian spirit who safeguards morals, keeps out bad spirits, disease, drought and bandits, A shrine to ‘Apomo’  is set on a slope just above the village, under a big tree. During the new year the men of the village visit the shrine to pay respects and celebrate for a while with Old Grandfather.

Happy New Year To The Lisu People. If you are in the neighborhood stop by, they love welcoming guests for a drink and a dance.

Barbara

www.siamesedreamdesign.com

photo credit http://tribaltrappings.blogspot.com/2012_02_01_archive.html

Teen Jok

Mae Chaem Thailand

Sunday drives in the mountains here in Thailand are often an exciting treasure hunt for a couple of textile junkies like us.Nestled in a quiet valley in the mountains of northern Thailand we found Mae Chaem, and the gorgeous Teen Jok textiles.
This sleepy little valley town was celebrating their textile heritage with their annual ‘Teen Jok Festival’. Just like a county fair back home there were beautiful displays and ribbons awarded for the best of show.
We had been familiar with another textile that goes by a similar name, however that one is machine made. Here the Tai Yuan people are known for creating stunning hembands ('teen') on their traditional skirts ( 'phaa sin') using the technique of discontinuous supplementary weft weaving ('jok). Often referred to as “embroidery on a loom”, this technique requires that different colored weft threads be inserted, threaded and picked through the warp threads, thus forming colorful patterns. Sometimes the picking is done with porcupine quills. 

Many of the hilltribes were also present  dressed  in their traditional clothes and showing off a bit  of their own textile art.

But Teen Jok was the star  of the day and you could feel the pride of the villagers in their textile legacy.

You will be seeing more of teen jok in our future designs. 

Today let me introduce you to these colorful mens neckties. Perfect for those special men who just won't settle for ordinary.

 

Barbara

www.siamesedreamdesign.com 

Songkran Daze in Chiang Mai

Happy Songkran Everyone

It has begun. The biggest water fight in the world and we are in the center of it here in Chiang Mai, the capital of Songkran. It’s a wild festival and really needs to be seen to be believed. Massive water fights break out all across the country and it makes you feel like a kid again.

It is the Thai New Year. It’s a time for cleansing and a time for renewal. The water washes away all the bad so you can start the year fresh, clean from all that is wrong in the world. 

It’s a happy time of the year where complete strangers can dump water over each others heads and smile about it. It’s an amazing experience and the rest of the world could learn a lot from it. It’s not uncommon for people to throw water at the Police and the Police take it with a smile.  

It’s a Buddhist festival. People bring sand to the temples  in order to replace the dirt that they have carried out with feet  in the past year.The sand is shaped into little stupas— miniature sand-sculptures  which  you can view at temples during  the Songkran festival. Buddha statues are paraded through the streets in order for people to pour water over them, respectfully

 “bathing” the holy images. 

Throughout the festival, a strong emphasis is placed on renewing traditional family values by showing respect and deference to elders. This is where the practice of throwing water comes from; it began by pouring scented water on the hands of elders to show respect and ask for blessings for the new year. 

For the next 5 or 6 days Thailand will stop to play, to wash away their troubles and worries. In Chiang Mai traffic will not move, trucks will be decked out with colorful powders and paint, giant tubs and trash cans will be filled with water and blocks of ice, if you go out you will get wet. People will play like children, they will laugh and dance, there will be parades, concerts and respectful temple ceremonies, food, family, friends and Thailand will smile. 

Amy and her crew are ready to go.

Did I mention the average daily temperature right now is 107/42

Happy New Year everyone. Sawadee Bee Mai.